MANU DI MARTINO

OKUS LAB Founder- ART DIRECTOR

CHOREOGRAPHER / CONSULTANT / ART DIRECTOR / DANCER / VISUAL ARTIST

Manu Di Martino is an artist with an unusual career. As a former researcher in biochemistry and genetics at the University of Liège, he starts dancing late on in life – at the age of 24. As dancer and choreographer, he comes in contact with various dance styles but he specializes in urban dances. He becomes then video-maker / visual artist and founds the company OKUS (visual arts and dance) in 2004. His projects are always organized around research and interdisciplinarity: hip hop and contemporary dance, videography, photography...

BIOGRAPHY (By Mathilde Normand, Advertising Manager)

What happens when you mix genetics to visual arts ?

A skillful mix which founder of Okus Lab, Manu Di Martino distills since many years. Imagine yourself projected into the universe of a hybrid artist ! A man who is able to cohabit sciences, in all forms of art ? A genetically modified artist to create !

At the crossroad between two worlds, Manu Di Martino experiences as much he creates to accomplish his artistic appetite. He merges his origins of researcher in biochemistry and genetics to the dance which he practices lately. His double degree allows him to apprehend this sector with a new look and filled with a belief in the fundamentals of those two passions At the age of 24, he becomes choreographer, exploring all style he encounters and specializes into urban dances. Involving body movements to those of lights, it's naturally that he founded the label Okus Lab , a real multidisciplinary laboratory where video and performance combines. Becoming videographer, Manu Di Martino continues to evolve in this universe which belongs to him, transcending the established limits between art and science, in order to affix his brand, his signature, his DNA.

A total work, a experience as much powerful as touching between two worlds which we imagined in opposite. A Mr Hyde with sparkling shoes !